Spielberg May Direct Sorkin’s Trial

DreamWorks has made a deal with Aaron Sorkin to write three films, the first of which will be The Trial of the Chicago 7, a drama that Steven Spielberg hopes to direct.

Variety says the drama focuses on the trials of protestors at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, where clashes between demonstrators and police made it one of the defining events of the 60s.

Spielberg and producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald have been developing the film with Sorkin for some time.

The celebrated writer’s credits range from the NBC drama “The West Wing” to the stage play “A Few Good Men,” which he scripted into a hit movie. Sorkin most recently adapted the George Crile book Charlie Wilsons War into a Playtone-produced Mike Nichols-directed film that stars Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman.